Gabi Troy Best Friends Forever
by heavensent666
Summary: Seven year old Troy is devestated when his best friend Gabi says she is moving. after all they are meant to be together. however when she moves back 6 years later he has changed a lot. are they still meant to be? read to find out! Review! xox
1. First Kiss

**A/N:** ok this is my Troyella, it was going to be a one shot but I fell inlove with it. Sorry. I hope you love it too.

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"No, Gabi, I don't believe you." A 7 year old Troy Bolton said to his best friend, Gabriella Montez. The two were next-door neighbours and had been best friends ever since Gabriella's family had moved in around 3 years ago. They were currently in Troy's backyard and he was almost crying as she had just told him that she was moving.

"Well you have to. I wouldn't lie to you Troy. Mummy told me we are leaving next week." Gabriella was equally upset but was a lot less sensitive then her best friend and got angry instead of sad.

"But then you are leaving right before you turn 7, that's not fair. We are supposed to be together forever and get married." Troy now did have tears running down his face.

Troy and Gabriella liked each other. They had as much of a crush on each other as a 6 or 7 year old could have. They didn't really understand the whole "crush" concept of course. They just knew that they liked each other, a lot. They knew that grown up boys and grown up girls who liked each other would do gross things like kissing before they got married and lived together forever. Both Troy and Gabriella took it for granted that they would end up married. After all why not? They were a boy and a girl? They liked each other? Why would it be any more complicated then that?

**(A/N:** by the way, if anyone doubts that these young kids could really think like that, I'll just say that I am writing this bit from personal experience. I still have the plastic engagement ring my old best friend gave me when he and I were only like… 5 or something.

"I know Troy. It's completely unfair!" the fiery young girl now screwed up her face in anger. "I told mummy that I wasn't going anywhere and that she would have to drag me out. And then she said that she couldn't help where her boss moved her to. And then I said that I hated her boss! And then I…" Gabriella's voice softened as she realised Troy was crying. She walked over and put her arm around him. "Mummy says that we might be coming back one day, in ummm…" her face screwed up again but this time in concentration, she poked out her fingers one at a time as she counted under her breath, "...four, five, six. Six! Six years."

"Six years! But Gabi what am I supposed to do without you?" Troy asked, his chin wobbling from his efforts to stop crying, "you know that I get teased when your not around."

"I know Troy, but you just have to be brave. Make jokes to Zeke or Jason when they are mean to you, I know you can be funny. And join in with Chad and the others when they play sports, even though you are afraid of the ball. Do you promise to be brave and stand up for yourself?" as she asked this she put her pinkie finger out so that he could promise.

"Yes, Gabi, I promise, for you." Troy joined his pinkie with hers. "But Gabi, you didn't tell me about girls. I'm so shy that you're the only girl I can talk to. And the only other girl who talks to me is Sharpay and she's so scary I wish she wouldn't."

"I know, I left it out on purpose. I don't want you talking to other girls, in case you forget about me."

"I could never forget about you Gabi, we're going to be married remember?"

"Yeah I remember, it's just that I will be away for so long." Now she was trying hard not to cry, which is really amazing as Gabriella is known for being the only girl who never cries.

"I just had an idea! Don't go anywhere." Troy said before running into his house and leaving Gabriella alone in the backyard. However she wasn't alone for long because in only about 10 seconds he was running back out to her. And now he was holding something.

"Here Gabi take this, for your birthday, and so that you don't forget me." He was holding out a small and very shabby brown bear. One of it eyes was loose and the stuffing was starting to fall out because of how often it had been hugged.

"Troy! I can't take Brown Bear, he is the only thing that helps you sleep at night. Remember when you left him at my house? Your mum had to come and get him at 2 in the morning because you wouldn't stop crying."

"But, I want you to take him."

"No, there is no way I am leaving my best friend alone and without brown bear. I refuse!" she stated dramatically. "Besides I have a better idea, come on!"

She grabbed Troy's arm and pulled him over to the short wall that separated their backyards. He had looked upset but was now excited because when Gabriella had an idea it meant he was in for a lot of fun. Just like they had done so many times before, Gabriella quickly climbed to the top of the wall and put her hand down to help Troy up, before jumping into her backyard and helping him down again. She then pulled him into her house and up to her bedroom, only stopping shortly in the kitchen to quickly yell "I hate your boss!" to her mother.

Once in her room Gabriella grabbed one of the crayons on her small desk.

"Okay, now I know how you can never forget me." She took brown bear from troy and wrote on his stomach (it wasn't hard because almost all of his fur was gone).

"Gabi + Troy

Best Friends Forever"

"Now you will always remember me see? And know that no other girl is allowed to be your best friend."

As usual Troy was amazed at how smart she was, but now he had another problem.

"Gabi, if you don't take brown bear then what will I give you for your birthday? And how are you going to remember me?"

It was now that something completely unheard of happened, Gabriella blushed. "Well actually Troy, there is something…"

"Really?" he was very relieved as he was never the one to come up with ideas. "What is it? I'll give you anything I can."

"Ummm… well I was wondering if you could maybe just ummm… k-kiss me?" Gabriella was now bright red, looking at anything but Troy. Troy on the other hand was staring at her like he had never seen her properly before.

"But Gabi, you think kissing is gross remember? You said you didn't understand why all the girls in our class were starting to talk about it."

"I know, but, it's just, I'm going away for so long, and since we are going to get married anyway, I thought maybe we could just have our first kiss now. Unless you want to have it with someone else?" Now Gabriella looked straight at him her eyes flashing in case he did say he liked another girl.

"No, all other girls are weird, if I'm going to kiss anyone I defiantly want it to be you. So what I mean h-how exactly do we do this?"

"It's really easy, just follow what I do." Gabriella was trying to sound confident because honestly she had no idea.

In later years if the two could've seen themselves they would have laughed. The kids were standing very far apart, had their eyes squeezed shut and their lips pushed out. They were slowly leaning in, then as soon as their lips touched for a millisecond….

"Eww!"

"Gross!"

"Why would anyone want to do that?" Troy asked a moment later. They had both run to the bathroom and rinsed their mouths out several times.

"I don't know, grown ups are crazy," Gabriella replied before changing the subject, if Troy kept talking about the kiss she might have to admit that she didn't actually mind it that much, "like my mums boss, making us move, it's so mean!"

"I'm really going to miss you Gabi." Troy said turning to hug his best friend.

"I'm going to miss you too." She said as she returned his hug. _But now I'll never forget you,_ she thought to herself,_ because you were my first kiss Troy Bolton._

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**A/N:** please review if you liked it, I really will try to update very, very soon. But reviews help! xoxox


	2. 6 Years Later

**A/N:** Oh my god guys! I can't believe I got so much response for this story thankyou so much to all the people who reviewed and to the people who added my story. It means so much to me. All of your reviews were so nice, but don't be afraid to make suggestions, ok? Anyway here is the next chapter, I hope it lives up to the standard of the first one! Enjoy.

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Six years after his old best friend had moved away Troy was strutting down the halls of East High like he owned the place, which he pretty much did. Of course he was now only 13 so was not the idol of the older teens, but was still looked up to by all of his year. He had gold brown hair, which was slightly too long so that it fell over his bright blue eyes a bit. He was the captain of the junior basketball team, he had a group of very dedicated friends, and he had a million girls in love with him. He was funny, talented, popular and hot! And he was loving his life as the young god of East High.

A lot had changed in the last six years. Troy had taken Gabriella's advice and joined in sports, finding that he had a natural talent. He had said what he thought to people resulting in everyone realising how much fun he could be. He was friends with the boys who had teased him, in fact he was their leader. He had no trouble talking to girls and practically always had a line of them following him around. If anyone said that Troy Bolton was sensitive and cried a lot they would either get beaten up, by boys, or laughed at, by girls.

Brown Bear was lying forgotten in the bottom of his wardrobe.

Troy had almost forgotten how his life used to be, in fact he didn't like remembering how weak he had been. So he didn't often think of the spunky, young, dark haired girl he had kissed all that time ago. Although he would never admit it, he had never kissed a girl since. Not for any particular reason, because he defiantly loved looking at girls, flirting with girls and being admired by girls, but somehow he never felt inclined to take it any further then that.

Right at this moment it was lunch time on Thursday at East High and Troy walked over to his table of admiring team mates and cheerleaders. As soon as sat down the head cheerleader, Candy, ran over and sat on his lap.

"Hey Troy, I haven't seen you all day. Have you missed me?" she asked, placing a hand on his cheek.

"Baby, you know my day isn't complete until I have had a bit of Candy." He smiled at her and winked.

"Oh Troy!" she squealed and giggled hysterically at his, unoriginal, pick up line.

Troy liked Candy because she was so obviously in love with him and took every chance to prove it. She also had a more developed body then most of the girls in his year and so her habit of constantly sitting on, jumping on or hugging Troy, was quite acceptable to him. Also she was smarter then a lot of the cheerleaders, and so sometimes they actually had interesting conversations. He knew that any of the guys in his year would kill to have Candy crushing on them as her straight red hair and deep green eyes made her very pretty in a sort of plastic way.

"I've to talk to my boys' now, okay babe?" he said over the top of her continuing laughter.

"Alright, maybe I'll come and watch your basketball practice tomorrow." She said before running over to her squad to describe everything Troy had said and done. There was no maybe about whether or not she would watch the practice, as the all of the cheerleaders showed up religiously.

"You are one lucky dude, Troy. If I had Candy all over me like that, I wouldn't be able to send her away." Troy's best friend Chad now turned to talk to him.

"Yeah, she is fine." Jason another member of the team said. "Why don't you ask her out already before someone else does?"

"Well for one, she'd never say yes to anyone but me. She told me that yesterday." Troy said smirking.

"Dude! Ok what's the other reason? If there is a one I'm assuming there's a two." Zeke now said looking at Troy in awe.

"Well I ummm… I…"

However it was just then that the bell went for the end of lunch, and so Troy was able to avoid answering. In all honesty he didn't know why he didn't ask Candy out. Everyone expected him to. And it made sense. There was just always this little voice in his head, it seemed to tell him to wait, that someone better was coming soon. But who could be better then Candy? Troy didn't understand this himself and he knew that if he told any of his friends they would think he was crazy.

The day slowly dragged on and once school was over Troy went home. He shot some hoops with his dad and it was then that he realised the house next door to his had a sold sign out the front. This was strange because people had been renting it for years, however before he could ask his father, the ball smacked him in the side of the head.

"Come on, Troy, get your head in the game!"

After dinner that night Troy went top his bedroom saying that he had homework, but really he just wanted to think. He had forgotten all about the sold sign mystery and was back to thinking about Candy. That night he fell asleep deciding that the voice in his head wasn't worth listening to and he would ask her out tomorrow.

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The next day Troy woke up and he was late, late, late! He got dressed and rushed downstairs, determined to ask Candy out that morning. He grabbed an apple from the kitchen and started collecting his stuff.

"Troy," his mother said, "you're finally up. You'll never guess what has happened. I went over to greet our new neighbours this morning only their not new, it's…" but she stopped when she realised her son wasn't listening.

"Sorry mum, got to get to school. Cant be late today." Troy said before running out the front door.

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Once Troy got to school he quickly found Candy and pulled her to the side of the main hallway. Then he asked her to be his girlfriend, before he could back out of it. Her scream was loud enough to wake the dead.

"Oh my god! Of course I will! This is going to be so great!" she screamed again and hugged him tight, reminding him of two reasons she was such a good catch. She pulled away slightly and when he looked at her he realised she was about to kiss him, the voice in his head started again, saying that he would regret it, but he ignored it. They leaned in to each other and were just about to kiss when suddenly someone tripped into Candy.

"Excuse me! Do you mind?!" Candy said, her pretty face becoming ugly as she turned with dislike on the girl who had half fallen on her.

The girl was built quite small but still had a slim body. She had dark loosely curled hair and dark eyes which somehow reminded Troy of someone…

"Oh, I'm so sorry," she said, "I just stumbled and…" her voice trailed off as she looked from Candy to the boy next to her, "…Troy?"

It was then that realisation hit Troy so hard he could have fallen over from it.

"Gabi…?"

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**A/N: **there you are my sweeties! The next chapter. I hope you liked it, and if you did please review. The more reviews the sooner the update. xoxox


	3. Old Memories, New Memories

**A/N:** wow, I am officially in love with everyone who reviewed and/or added me and/or my story to their alerts/favourites list. You guys are my heroes! And please keep reviewing because I love it so much. I hope you like this chapter!

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"Wow, Troy, I can't believe it's you!" Gabriella said, moving forward to hug her old best friend, much to the disgust of Candy.

"I know it's been forever. So today is your first day back?" Troy returned Gabriella's hug but felt a bit awkward at the same time as memories of their childhood friendship came back to him. Also, confusingly, he felt quite relieved that he hadn't kissed Candy. What was wrong with him?

Candy was the complete opposite, furious that she had been denied the kiss and that this new girl had the nerve to hug_ her_ boyfriend. She wasn't even very pretty! Why was Troy talking to her? Candy decided to get his attention back to her. Although she had had her arms around him he had let go off her when he saw this other girl, so once he had stopped hugging her Candy grabbed his hand.

"Troy, couldn't you talk to… this girl later? We were kinda in the middle of something. I'm sure she doesn't mind, do you honey?" Candy now turned with a big fake smile to Gabriella. The smile didn't reach her eyes, and everyone who knew Candy knew she should not be messed with when she used her "sweet" voice.

However Gabriella was fuming, as this other girl seemed to be treating her like an inferior child. She was about to reply when Troy cut in.

"Actually, Gabi, I mean Gabriella is an old friend of mine. I'm going to show her around the school, I'll see you later ok?

Candy didn't get the chance to say that she was defiantly not okay with that because Troy had pulled his hand out of hers and was walking down the hall with Gabriella before she had even blinked. There is no way I am going to lose Troy now! She thought to herself, before storming off in the opposite direction.

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That lunch time Troy was sitting away from his usual spotlight, at a table in the corner of the cafeteria with only Gabriella for company. But neither of them saw this as a bad thing because they were both almost falling off their seats from laughing.

"That's right!" said Troy, who was holding a stich in his side from laughter. "I forgot we used to play superheroes! You would wear your underwear over your shorts!"

"Hey!" said Gabriella who was wiping away tears of laughter, "I only did that because you never wanted to be the hero, you would insist on being the one being rescued, and you said you didn't want to be rescued by someone who didn't look like a super hero."

Troy now stopped laughing as he was reminded of the pathetic child he had been. Wasn't it normal for guys to rescue girls not the other way around?

"Troy, are you alright?"

He was still clutching his stomach and looking down when he heard the question, and when he looked up to answer he found his face just centimetres from Gabriella's. She was looking concerned at his sudden quietness, but still had a slight smile lingering on her lips. She really was very beautiful. He leaned forward slightly to hold her hand. Their faces were still very close and he smiled at her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm glad your back, how long has it been?"

"Six years, almost exactly. I know that because I turn 13 next Friday, and I remember I left here right before my seventh birthday." She smiled back at him and blushed slightly. He did too as he remembered her present.

Then the bell went for the end of lunch **(A/N: **amazing how it rings at these convenient times for me isn't it?. People started filing out through the door and sending curious looks at Troy and Gabriella. Candy and her squad passed and she glared at Gabriella, the other cheerleaders noticed and then also glared at this new girl who, according to Candy, was a bitchy slut, kicked out of her old school because the principal found out she had had two abortions.

The junior basketball team were the last to leave, partly because they had been waiting for Troy to lead them out and partly because they really didn't want to go to their next class. However once they realised that Troy wasn't paying them any attention, they too, left the cafeteria. Gabriella got up to leave but was held back by Troy, who was still holding her hand.

"I know, you should come to my basketball practice this afternoon. Then we can hang out more afterwards."

"You play basketball? That's amazing! You used to run away from tennis balls."

Troy decided to ignore this last comment and focus on his goal.

"You will come then?" he asked moving forward and holding her other hand. "Promise you will?"

"Yeah, alright." Was all Gabriella could manage to say as she watched Troy move closer to her, and closer. They were so close she could feel his breath on her face. She closed her eyes, but then….

"Troy, we are going to be late for history. You know it's your favourite class because it is the only one we have together." Candy now ran into the room and grabbed Troy's hand, pulling him out after her.

"This afternoon, in the Gym." Was all Troy could say before he was dragged out of the cafeteria.

Gabriella sighed, and then went to get her books. She had geography, her least favourite subject. But at least she had this afternoon to look forward to. She couldn't believe her first day was turning out so well. She was pretty sure that Troy had almost kissed her then, and she couldn't deny that he had done a good job growing up because he was hot! She giggled, thinking about what might happen after his basketball practice, she might get her first kiss in 6 years.

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That afternoon she walked into the gym to see the basketball team warming up. She had missed most of their practice since she had been talking to her physics teacher about joining the junior academic club. Troy looked over at her and she waved to him. He was about to wave back but then his coach, who she recognised as his dad, yelled at him for getting distracted.

She saw what looked like the entire cheerleading squad sitting and watching the boys play. As she walked closer all their eyes turned to her and she saw Candy in the middle, looking at her as if daring her to come any closer. Gabriella was never one to pass up on a dare so she walked straight over to the cheerleaders and sat down in the middle of their group. She held out her hand to Candy.

"Hi, I don't think we ever got properly introduced. I'm Gabriella."

Candy just glared at her for a moment before shaking her hand slightly.

"I'm Candy, the head cheerleader."

"Candy! Is that really your name?" Gabriella laughed before realising that the entire squad was giving her death stares.

Luckily the boys training ended then and they walked over to the group of girls.

"Well, well, if it isn't little Gabi all grown up." Chad said

"And if it isn't Chad who hasn't outgrown his cuteness." She said back, in a way that was more cheeky then flirty. "I'm surprised you remember me."

"Come on Gabs, we could never forget the girl who ate 5 full burgers at the age of 6." Jason now said. Gabriella grinned, taking this as a compliment while all the cheerleaders looked disgusted. Candy decided that she deserved to get back the attention that was rightfully hers. She walked over to Troy, who was standing next to Gabriella, and put her arms around his neck.

"So, Troy, when do you want to go out?" Candy asked him. Gabriella's smile faltered a bit as she looked from Candy to Troy.

"Go out..?" she asked him questioningly.

"Oh, didn't you know?" Candy said giving a fake little laugh. "I'm his girlfriend."

After her last word the room seemed to spin around Gabriella, she could see the smirks of the cheerleaders, Candy's wicked smile and Troy's concerned face. She felt like she couldn't breathe properly, but forced herself to speak normally.

"Well, I better go now. I'll see you all later." She said before walking quickly out of the gym. She had walked about ten steps away from the gym doors before Troy caught up to her. He grabbed her arm forcing her to stop and turn to face him.

"Gabi, are you alright?"

"Is it true?" she asked, her voice higher then usual. "Is Candy your girlfriend?"

"Well, yes actually." Troy said before realising that Gabriella had tears sparkling in her eyes. "Are you crying?"

"No!" she yelled at him. "I would never cry over someone like you. You just lead girls on all the time do you? flirt with them knowing all the while that nothing would ever happen because you have a girlfriend! It's disgusting."

"Gabi, it's not like that. I do like you. I just…"

"Ha! Yeah right. Look Troy, just don't speak to me any more ok?" she said before ripping her arm out of his grasp and running away.

Troy stood and watched her go. He had no idea what to do. His school life was too hard at the moment. He decided to forget it all for the weekend. Instead he would think about his mum's mystery of who had moved in next door.

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**A/N: **Another chapter done! Did you like it? I'm sure you have all guessed who moved in next door, it's not very hard. Troy's not stupid, honestly, he just has a lot on his mind. Anyway please review and tell me what you think. xoxox


	4. No Need to Thank Me

**A/N:** You guys are so great. Everyone keeps asking me to update so I will. That's what happens when you review, so keep it up. Enjoy.

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When Troy came home with his father/coach that afternoon his plan to stop thinking about Gabriella was not working very well. He didn't know what to do. He did like her but could he really tell? She had only been back for one day after all. But it felt like she had never left. He was completely relaxed when he talked to her. She was still funny and confident like he remembered, although now she was sweeter and more girly. Which he thought was good, because he found himself extremely attracted to her. Why had he asked Candy out? He could already answer that. It was because Gabriella hadn't been back, and he did like Candy, just not in the same way.

And now what was he supposed to do? Gabriella was angry at him for leading her on, which he hadn't done consciously, even though he had wanted to. And Candy was being completely overbearing, flirting hugely and continually reminding him that they were dating. Then there was all the stuff the guys were saying in the changing rooms after practice. He had been able to deal with them congratulating him for snagging the head cheerleader. But when they had started talking about how hot Gabriella had become he felt his anger rising. It was too all complicated. Troy sat on one of the chairs in the kitchen and put his head face down on the table. Why was his life so hard?

"Troy honey, are you alright?" His mum looked slightly alarmed as he sighed loudly. She was preparing dinner when her husband and Troy had come home. It was spaghetti, his favourite. She always made big meals on the days he played basketball, because she knew that he would be starving.

"Yeah, mum, I'm just great." He took his head of the table and looked up at her. He tried again to distract himself from his thoughts of two pretty girls.

"So did anything interesting happen to you today?" Why did he ask that? Now he was going to hear about how her daffodils were coming out early or something.

"Well, actually yes. You rushed out of here so fast this morning I didn't get the chance to tell you. The house next door has been sold. I went over there this morning and Cara Montez answered the door. You remember her right, Gabriella's mother? Apparently they have moved back for good now. You and Gabriella used to be best friends, you should go over and say hello."

Troy was staring at his mother, completely speechless. Gabriella was in house next door? Right at this moment. He couldn't go and see her. She would kick him out of the house or something. Why hadn't she mentioned that she had moved into her old house? His father had come in and heard what his mother had said.

"Gabriella, that's it. I couldn't remember her name. She was at our basketball training, I thought she looked familiar. Troy was staring at her, weren't you champ?" He said as he smacked Troy affectionately on the shoulder.

"Can't blame him either. She's a real cute girl." Troy's dad added, before his mum squealed in a way that was disturbingly similar to Candy.

"Oh, so you have already met again! I suppose it makes sense that she would go to East High, too. It is the only high school nearby. That's so good. You two were so sweet together, now it will be just like old times. Here, you can take over this pie I made for them. Cara probably doesn't have a lot time to cook, since they just moved in." And she handed him a container which just fitted a big pie in it.

"Oh, but mum, I was going to…" Troy didn't know what his excuse was going to be but it didn't matter because she had already ushered him out of the kitchen.

"Don't be silly, Troy, it will only take a moment."

He sighed and walked to his backyard. The wall which had once seemed so tall now came up only to just above his waist. Looking over he could see into the living room of the Montez house and with a start he realised that Gabriella was lying on a couch reading a book. He stood and stared at her for a moment, and then he heard her mum yell in another part of the house.

"Gabi, I'm home. Come and tell me about your first day. While you are talking you can help with these groceries." Without looking up from her book Gabriella yelled back.

"Oh, mum I would but I am working on really hard homework and I don't want to lose my focus. I'll help once I finish this chap-I mean question."

Troy laughed under his breath, still watching her every move. In some unknown way she must have felt his look, because she glanced up and saw him. At first she looked taken a back but quickly changed to angry as she put her book down and walked towards her back door. Troy sighed again and placed the pie on the wall before swinging his legs over it and jumping into Gabriella's garden. He turned to pick up the pie and when he turned back again to face her house he instead found himself face to face with Gabriella.

"You didn't used to be able to get over that wall without my help, maybe I should tell Candy about that?" She laughed a little evilly, "Oh, the things I could tell her." But then became serious again.

"Troy! What are you doing on _my _property? When I said I didn't want to talk to you again I meant for longer then an hour." She glared at him and he, feeling like an idiot, held out the pie.

"My mum sent me over to give you this. She said your mum might not have time to cook since you just moved back." For a moment he thought Gabriella might not answer since she seemed to just keep staring at him, but then she reached out and took the container from him. Her hand brushed his slightly and he felt very warm all over.

"Well, thankyou to your mum. That's very nice of her." Gabriella said stiffly.

"Yeah. So… I didn't realise you had moved in here." Troy was trying to make the conversation less awkward, but failing since Gabriella now shot him a pitying look.

"The guy who owned it before is getting older so when my mum said we wanted to rent it for a long time he asked if she wanted to buy it. If you had looked at the letter box, it does say MONTEZ in big letters, same as does the sold sign. And your mum knew. And I had told you I would be moving back in six years. When you saw me at school, I kind of thought you would put it all together."

"Oh, right. I hadn't actually realised it had been six years. To be honest I had almost forgotten about you….. m-moving back that is….not you personally, I….." Troy voice faded as he realised that his words were not helping. In fact they were making it worse. He hadn't meant to insult her but it was pretty obvious that he had.

"Don't worry about it Troy, no need to thank me for all I did for you. Never mind about the girl who stopped you from getting beaten up, huh? Who cares that I would tell people off for teasing you? What does it matter? Now that you have millions of friends, and admirers. Well don't count me as one of them, I'm just some girl who you have forgotten all about." After this increasingly hysterical speech, Gabriella flicked her hair over her shoulder and started walking back to her house.

"Gabriella! That's not what I meant." Troy was desperate in his attempts to fix his mistake but it wasn't working. She had reached her back door when he put a hand on it to stop her from entering.

"Listen to me, I…" But he was cut off as she whirled around and looked straight into his eyes.

"No, Troy. You listen to me. I don't even know you anymore. You are not the same boy who was my best friend. You think that your life is so hard right? Well I have moved houses 4 times since I left here. I have had to leave behind countless friends, who said they wished I was going to move back. But I'm not. I had to move back here. Where the only "friend" I have is someone who is completely up himself and couldn't care less about me. So I don't want to talk to you and I don't want to see you. When we were seven I thought I loved you, but looking at you right now, I don't even think I like you."

And so with that Gabriella and the pie disappeared into the house, causing Troy to stumble since he was still leaning on the door. She slammed it closed behind her and did not look back once at the bemused boy who was standing on her step.

Troy, however, was not crushed. He was not upset that a girl he liked had just said she hated him and didn't even want to see him. To be honest Troy hadn't taken in much of what she had said. He just one thought on his mind: Gabriella had said she loved him.

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**A/N:** Did you like it? Sorry it was a bit shorter then the others. But it just had some longer paragraphs and less talking. And sorry that not that much happened, I just wanted to show you how Troy was thinking. Anyway please review and tell me what you are thinking.

By the way, do I really have to write a disclaimer thing? I think it is pretty obvious that I don't own HSM. That's kinda the whole point of Fanfics, to steal characters.

Love you all heaps! Next chapter I am going to include the other guys (Chad, Jason, and Zeke) talking to Gabriella, and Troy will yell at her for a change. So if you want to know happens. Review. xoxox


	5. I hate you so much!

**A/N:** if you are reading this then I am very happy because my computer is working again. It hasn't been working lately. I wrote a lot of a new story because I knew I wouldn't have much time during this term but it won't work for some reason. I'll keep trying, but I decided to continue this story and hope it works. Thankyou so much to all of my reviewers, especially reeb.myoo who had written interesting reviews for every chapter, it means a lot to me. I hope you all like this chapter.

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Saturday morning Gabriella was woken at around 10. This was not her choice, if she had it her way she would have been in bed for at least another hour. What had woken her were many yells, bursts of laughter and a continuous bouncing sound coming from outside.

After a moment of trying, and failing, to block out the sound by pulling the blankets over her head, she threw them off herself and stamped over to the window. Tugging it open and sticking her head out she looked into Troy's backyard to see the source of the noise, Troy, Chad, Zeke and Jason playing on his basketball court. Troy glanced up and saw her, he said something to the other guys and they all turned around to face her.

"Good look Gabriella, it really works for you!" Troy yelled out. The guys all started laughing.

She glared down at them all before slamming the window shut. She walked to her bathroom and almost screamed as she looked at the mirror and realised what had been so funny. She was wearing boxer shorts with stars and love hearts all over them (but those guys couldn't have seen them could they?) and an old white t-shirt, worn enough so that her bright pink bra showed through very obviously. But the worst part, which there was no denying the boys must have seen, was her hair! It looked like she had been electrocuted, repeatedly. It was scary.

Oh my god, Gabriella thought, they saw me like this! She took a few deep breaths and quickly decided how she was going to fix it. She was going to show Troy what he was missing, it was going to be fun! She took a short shower and washed her hair. She got out and, making sure the curtains were firmly shut, changed into black short shorts and a tight red top. She dried and curled her hair and applied lip gloss and mascara. She smiled as she saw her toenails were perfectly painted red, and her mum had said it was pointless. Looking at herself now, the transformation was amazing. She looked really hot, in a non-slutty way, but casual. Smiling again she left the house, telling her mum she was going for a walk.

The boys in Troy's garden all looked up as Gabriella walked out of her house, down to the dividing wall, and climbed over it, as gracefully as possible. She walked up to them, careful not to walk to fast or trip over anything. They all seemed stunned, staring at her, Jason's month was slightly open and Chad was motionless, holding the ball, in a bent position, as he had been about to shoot. She came right up to them, before standing still.

"What?" she said, smiling at them all. This seemed to snap them out of their trance.

"You sure clean up good." said Jason, his eyes still glued on her. Gabriella giggled in a way much too flirty for Troy. Gabriella looked straight at Jason and started twirling her hair, smiling, but after only a second Troy interrupted the "moment" loudly.

"What are you doing here? We've got to practice." Gabriella now turned to him with wide eyed innocence.

"Oh, I know. I just always thought basketball might be fun, you guys don't mind if I join in do you?"

"No." Zeke, Chad and Jason answered unanimously. Troy scowled.

"Are you any good?" Chad asked. Gabriella walked very close to him before taking the basketball out of his hands.

"Well, I just stole the ball from you. So if you can't get it back then I guess I'm good. Go on try to get it back." She started slowly stepping backwards, holding the ball in front of her. Chad looked uncertainly at the others before lunging to try and grab the ball. Gabriella pulled it away and laughed.

"Come on. You can do better then that!"

Encouraged by her laugh Chad tried again, only to miss again. Zeke and Jason decided that they wanted to join the fun and started to come at Gabriella from different sides. Pretty quickly the three guys were pouncing and tickling Gabriella who determinedly held on to the ball. They were holding her when they could and she was shrieking in a very girly way Troy stood the side annoyed.

"You're supposed to dribble the ball." he said. He was surprised that Gabriella even heard given all the laughter coming from her, and even more surprised at her answer.

"I was never into the whole dribbling thing. I'm just helping these guys practice using their hands."

More laughter emerged from the group and Troy saw Zeke wrap his arms around Gabriella waist to keep her still. Jealousy surged through all of his body. Zeke let go off her only to be replaced by Jason grabbing her hands from behind so that Chad could get the ball. Troy walked over to the group, pretending to laugh along with them, he joined in the wrestling and quickly found himself in front of Gabriella, and he tried to get the ball from her, unintentionally touching her arm as he did. Gabriella immediately screamed and all of the other guys backed off, smiles fading.

"Don't you dare touch me!" she yelled.

"But you don't mind other guys feeling you up?" Troy said back. They were standing about a metre away from each other, glaring.

"We were playing a game, Troy. Obviously your sick mind turns everything into something sexual."

"Oh, of course, it was my fault. It could never be your fault even though you have been flirting like a slut ever since you got here."

"If you want to talk about sluts you should take a look at your girlfriend!" Gabriella spat at him, but Troy was sick of her yelling at him. In fact he felt like he was sick of her altogether.

"That's right. Bring Candy up again. God, can't you see how pathetic you seem? You are so in love with me that you keep hating on my girlfriend who you don't even know. Why do you keep getting angry at me? How the hell was I supposed to know that you would be back now anyway? Did you expect everything to go back to how it was? Did you want me to tell you that I never stopped "loving" you? It's really getting old Gabriella. Considering how many times you have yelled at me I'm really glad that I have Candy because otherwise I might have got stuck with you!"

Troy was out of breath looking straight at Gabriella. And she was looking back, her eyes flashing. They had both forgotten that three other guys were there too. Chad took advantage of the silence.

"Troy… dude, don't be like that, Gabriella doesn't..."

"Shut up!" Gabriella screamed, still looking at Troy, "I don't need you to defend me to this stuck up loser!"

"Ummm... hello!" Troy yelled stepping closer to her, "You came over here! Nobody invited you, and nobody would care if you left!"

Gabriella took a step closer to him, their faces were just inches apart. Now Gabriella spoke in a deathly quiet voice.

"I hate you so much! Do the world a favour and die."

"Give me my basketball." Troy said just as firmly.

Gabriella glared at him for a second longer before she turned away and was walking towards her house when she stopped. Turning again she screamed and threw the ball at Troy as hard as she could, which was actually pretty hard. She jumped over the wall and stormed into her house.

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The ball hit Troy on the arm, and rolled towards Zeke. He picked it up and looked at Chad and Jason. Chad nodded slightly and they slowly approached Troy. He was still staring at Gabriella's house, breathing quickly. His arm was turning red, but he paid no attention.

"Dude, are you alright?" Chad said.

"We weren't trying to flirt with Gabriella, truly, it was just in fun." Said Zeke.

Troy shook himself slightly and turned to face his friends.

"Who would flirt with that girl? Completely frigid, she is. Let's keep playing." He turned and grabbed the ball, taking a shot and missing entirely.

"I think you would like to flirt with that girl." Jason said, slyly. But this was a mistake because Troy rounded on him.

"Shut up! She means nothing to me. Never mention her again or I swear I will beat you up."

He looked very frightening at the moment. He was so angry that he looked almost crazy. Jason shrunk back slightly.

"Are we playing ball or what?" Troy demanded. The others immediately started playing.

Troy played but his head wasn't in the game. Why the hell would she dress up that hot, come over here and make him jealous just to start yelling at him again? And why did he care? He glanced over at her house, but her bedroom curtains were closed. I should just forget about her, and I will, he thought, I will!

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Gabriella had stomped up the stairs to her bedroom, passing her mother in the kitchen.

"Have you had breakfast yet?"

"No, mum. I'm not hungry. Actually I feel sick."

She closed her door before her mother could come and fuss over her. She walked over to her bed, picked up her pillow and threw it at the wall. Why did he always make her so angry? He was not important, so why did it hurt her so much? Not fair, Gabriella screamed inside her head. Making sure the curtains were still closed she fell onto her bed and cried.

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**A/N:** So, what do you think? Review! Remember it is Saturday (in Troy and Gabi land) and her birthday is on Friday. Very important. By the way guess what? It is completely unbelievable.

We just got back to school, one of my friends had been up in Sydney (Australia) and she met Zac Efron!!!! He was just walking along the street and she got a photo with him! She doesn't even like him that much. I spent all day either hating on her, (that should have been me!) or putting my arm around her waist because that is where he touched her!!! If you are screaming from jealousy tell me in a review and I will hit her for you. She won't think it's strange because I hit her a lot. Love ya'll xoxox


	6. Unavoidable Thoughts

**A/N:** thankyou so much to all my reviewers. As usual it makes my day so happy to read them, I love knowing people are enjoying my story. Sorry it took me so long to update. All of the work that I should have done in the holidays is now due so I'm staying up late every night to get things in on time. Anyway I hope you enjoy this.

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Gabriella woke up, this time at her own accord, on Sunday morning with a dull headache. She felt completely drained of energy, although she had slept for hours. This was probably because she had spent most of yesterday crying. After coming back from Troy's house, she had cried, done her homework, cried, listened to music, cried, snuck down to the fridge and eaten a box of chocolate biscuits, come back to her room to cry some more, changed into her pyjamas and cried herself to sleep. Then even in her sleep she couldn't escape it, no matter where her dream took her a gorgeous boy with blue eyes would be there. Always saying the words she couldn't get out of her head, she didn't think she'd ever be able to forget them.

"_You came over here! Nobody invited you, and nobody would care if you left!"_

He had seemed so angry, so honest, like he really couldn't care less about her. Gabriella felt a sob rising in her chest, but she swallowed and forced it away. She was sick of crying, sick of replaying his words over and over inside her head. She didn't know how she was going to spend today, but she was determined not to cry anymore. So she decided to do the one thing that would let her escape from the real world, at least for a little while, reading. She carefully peeked out of her window to check that no one was in Troy's backyard. After confirming this she walked downstairs and grabbed a book noticing a note from her mum saying she was shopping and would be back soon. Gabriella sat down behind the couch to read, she didn't want to sit on the couch in case Troy could see her, she was in her boxers and worn out top again.

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Troy woke up at almost exactly the same moment, but unlike Gabriella, he felt very much awake. He had jumped out of bed, walked to the bathroom and gotten into his shower before even remembering the fight yesterday. When he did remember he hated himself, how could he have said all those mean things, especially to her? But he was going to fix it. He would apologise, even if he still believed in some of what he had said.

After Gabriella had left yesterday he had played basketball with the guys for a while longer. But he had been playing so badly it was embarrassing. Not to mention Jason was either brave enough, or stupid enough, to keep mentioning Gabriella. He was getting so annoyed that in the end he had sent them home, not very nicely, so he owed all of them apologies too. After that he had pretty much locked himself up in his bedroom, turning the music up loud enough that he didn't have to think.

Sighing, Troy got out of the shower and dried himself before pulling on some old jeans and a black top. He decided to go and see Gabriella straight away before he got too scared. He walked to the backyard, becoming aware that his parents were out somewhere, and down to the wall.

He was sitting on top of it ready to jump down before he realised that Gabriella was once again reading in the room he could so easily see into. He hadn't noticed her before because only her head was poking out from behind the couch. It looked like she had been sitting but had slid onto the floor and, unconsciously, out from behind her cover from his house.

Troy once again paused, taking in the fact that she was in her pyjamas. Her messy hair was tied in a ponytail, a singly lock falling down. He watched her, half hoping she would see him and come out because he seemed unable to walk forwards. However his telepathic message was not heard. As he watched, Gabriella folded her arms over her book and lay her head on them. Her body seemed to shudder before she brought her head back up, wiped her eyes, and focused on the book again.

Wow, thought Troy, I wish I could get that absorbed in a book. But now he felt even more awkward. Should he still apologise? Should he mention he had seen her crying? Should he suggest happier books? Or should he just leave? He decided that leaving was defiantly the best option, however now, instead of not moving at all his legs were moving him towards the house. He couldn't just leave her when she seemed so miserable. He walked up and tapped on the glass window.

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Gabriella jumped as she heard a tap on the window and looking up from her book, the escaping idea wasn't working anyway, she saw Troy standing there, waving a little. What should she do? Gabriella didn't know if she was happy to see him or not. She had been hurting so much the past 24 hours, did she want to talk to the person who caused that? But surely he wouldn't come over here just to insult her some more, would he? So then he might want to apologise! And he should, but did she want his pity? Realising that she had top do something she got up and pointed at Troy to go to the back door. She walked over to it and opened it to find Troy standing so close to the door that he almost fell onto her.

"Gabriella, I just wanted to say I…" suddenly he stopped talking.

Gabriella realised he was staring at her chest. Looking down she remembered that she was wearing a purple bra, very easy to see through the white. Blushing deeply she crossed her arms over her chest. Why don't I have any white bras anyway, she thought.

"You just wanted to say… what Troy?" she said very aware that he was still not looking at her face. His head jerked up.

"What? Oh right. I just wanted to say I'm sorry. About yesterday, I shouldn't have said any of that stuff I was…" but he was cut off.

"No, you were right. I was being really unfair to Candy. And how were you supposed to know I would be back. And I had just walked in on your practice. So I'm sorry."

Gabriella was amazed that those words had just come out of her mouth. She had never apologised to anyone before. Nothing had ever been her fault before. Why should she apologise for other peoples mistakes. But suddenly she could stop herself, she had to make things right with the adorable boy on her doorstep. She smiled sort of awkwardly at him, and he smiled back. He was still just standing there.

"Ummm, do you want to come in?"

"Sure, ok."

She moved aside and Troy stepped in. she closed the door behind him and walked to the couch, with him following, they sat down on either end. After a moment Troy broke the uncomfortable silence.

"Where is your mum?"

"Shopping."

That conversation had been much shorter then Troy had hoped. He began looking around for something else to talk about. He saw the book Gabriella had been reading still lying open on the floor.

"So is that a sad book?" he asked, gesturing to it.

"No, why would you think that?" Now Gabriella was very confused, why would he think it was sad? Unless…

"Just because before when I was outside I saw you reading, I thought it must be sad because... oh." Realisation finally hit Troy. She had been crying because of him.

"Gabi… I-I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you." He slid along the couch to be closer to her. But Gabriella looked away.

"It's ok, it doesn't matter. I'm just… not feeling well." She muttered but Troy didn't believe her.

"Gabi I… look at me!" Startled by his raised voice she turned to look at him, and he saw her eyes were teary again. He hated that he had done that. he wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"I would never hurt you on purpose Gabi. You're still my best friend and I… really like you."

There was a sharp intake of air from Gabriella and she was looking straight into his eyes, as if searching for any dishonesty. And she obviously found none.

"But, what about Candy?" she whispered. Troy took his arm off her shoulders and held the side of her face.

"I guess I'll deal with Candy tomorrow. I'm sorry you got caught up in all that."

"I r-really like you too, Troy."

"Are you sure? Yesterday with Jason I thought maybe…." Troy trailed off as Gabriella shook her head.

"No, I was just trying to make you jealous. It's always been you." Gabriella blushed faintly and Troy smiled at her.

"In that case it worked and so now I'm going to do something that I have wanted to do since I saw you on Friday."

Troy moved his face closer to Gabriella and she closed her eyes…

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**A/N:** ha ha I'm going to leave it there. Sorry this chapter was kinda short. I've been massively busy, I started another story! It's called "In Just One Night…" and it's all about your favourite couples falling in love so read it! Anyways please review this one. xoxox


	7. It's Your Choice, Troy

**A/N:** Sorry for taking so long. Apart from school and stuff I have been writing other stories. Please read them, even though this is my favourite, I love the others too and I would love to know what you think of them. By the way my last chapter didn't get as many reviews as the previous ones. Not that I don't fully appreciate the reviews, but if less people are reviewing I will focus more on the other stories.

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Slowly Troy and Gabriella's faces moved closer together, they both had their eyes closed. In one second their lips would touch but then…

"Gabriella! I'm home." Gabriella's mum yelled out.

They heard the front door slam as Cara Montez came home. The two jumped apart, both silently cursing Cara's timing. Gabriella looked sideways at Troy, who looked at her, smiling. He was about to say something when Cara walked into the room.

"There you are, Gabriella, didn't you hear me? Oh, Troy, I didn't realise you were here. Its good to see you again, how are your parents?"

"They're fine, thanks, Ms. Montez. I should probably be leaving now. Bye." Troy got up to go.

"I'll walk you out." Gabriella volunteered immediately and jumped up.

They walked out the back door and down Gabriella's garden to the wall. Troy turned to face Gabriella.

"That could have been awkward, if your mum had walked in a moment later."

"You want to show me what she would have walked in on?" Gabriella smiled at Troy and stepped towards him, however he stepped back.

"Don't look now, but your mum is still watching us from inside."

"God, she never leaves me alone!" Gabriella said crossly, Troy laughed.

"I'll see you at school tomorrow." He winked at her and kissed her cheek before jumping over the wall and walking towards his house.

"Okay." Gabriella said softly.

She raised her hand to touch her cheek, it felt very warm. Turning back to her house she saw that Cara was indeed watching her, smiling knowingly. Gabriella glared at her mother. She walked back to the house.

"Gabriella, is there a reason are still in your pyjamas?"

Gabriella blushed, she had completely forgotten. It must have seemed so strange to her mother.

"I'm going to get dressed now."

She ran upstairs and into her bedroom, closing the door behind her. Glancing out the window she saw Troy on his balcony, when he saw her he held up a sign with a mobile number on it. Gabriella quickly found her mobile and texted the number.

_Hey, it's Gabi, obviously. What's up?_

**Nothing, I just wanted to have your mobile number. What are you doing now?**

_Getting properly dressed_

**But your PJs are so cute. :P**

_Ha ha, very funny. Give me a moment to change_

**Fine, but leave the curtains open**

_In your dreams!_

**I'm counting on that**

Gabriella laughed and pulled her curtains shut. Changing quickly, she opened them again. Troy was gone from the balcony.

_So, can you come for a walk or something today?_

**Sorry, my rents just got home. Dad wants to take me to a b-ball game today. Raincheck on the walk. Bye**

Gabriella sighed, now she should have to wait until tonight. But after wasting the day on pointless tasks, Cara told her that they were going out that night. So Gabriella had to tell Troy that they would have to wait until tomorrow.

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The next day Troy had to wake up and get to school early with his dad. The basketball team always trained Monday mornings, torture. When they got there the rest of the team was in the gym. Troy's dad walked to his office to get the basketballs, telling the boys to start stretching.

Chad grabbed Troy's arm and pulled him towards the entrance, away from the rest of the team, Zeke and Jason followed.

"Dude, what was up with you on Saturday? What you said to Gabriella was so not cool." Chad said, getting to the point quickly.

"I know guys, I-" But troy was cut off by Jason.

"And then you acted like a prick to us."

"I know, I-" Troy was cut off again, this time by Zeke.

"We don't care, but you owe her an apology."

"Shut up, will you? Let me finish talking!" Troy burst out loudly. Finally he got the guys attention and they let him speak.

"I know I shouldn't have said that stuff, ok? I'm sorry for going off at you guys. I have already apologised to Gabi and we're cool. She's a really awesome girl."

"Oh really?" said a sarcastic voice behind him.

Troy whipped around to find Candy and the other cheerleaders standing there. Unnoticed by the boys they had entered the gym and heard what Troy had said. Normally the cheerleading squad would miss the early morning training, but obviously not today. Candy had her arms crossed and was glaring at Troy.

"Candy, I'm glad you're here. I need to talk to you."

When Candy didn't move he softly held her arm and tried to pull her away from the others. She sighed heavily before finally giving in and following Troy.

"Look, Candy, I'm really sorry but I think-"

Troy was, again, interrupted. But it was safe to say that Candy was far more threatening then Chad, Zeke and Jason. Her green eyes had narrowed into poisonous looking slits, and her red hair seemed to burn with her anger.

"Shut up Troy! There is no way you are dumping me. You are my boyfriend and it is going to stay like that. We are going to go on dates, hug and kiss, hold hands and laugh together in front of people. You are going to talk about how much you love me to all the guys. You are going to forget about your little friend and you know why? Because if you don't, I will make her life hell. I can't do anything to you but I can make her wish she was dead. Do you remember Gracie? All those rumours about her? She transferred schools. I hear she lives across the country now, and meets her counsellor twice a week. I did that, and I'll do it again to precious _Gabi_ if I don't get what I want. It's your choice, Troy, what's it going to be?"

Troy just stood there, stunned. He couldn't believe it, he had never seen this side of Candy before. He knew that people talked about her being a bitch a lot, but he had just thought they were joking.

He did remember Gracie, in the beginning of the year she had been Candy's only opponent running for head cheerleader. Everyone had thought she was going to win but then they started hearing things about her. What she had been like at her primary school, why she had moved, what she was doing with teachers to get good marks. Then Gracie would be seen crying in the halls, she started to miss classes. The students heard that her brother was in jail for murder and her parents had divorced because her father was gay. Gracie got very thin, and after fainting during the cheerleader tryouts had been sent to hospital. That was the last time anyone from east high saw her.

Was Candy serious? Had that all been her? It was after Gracie left that Candy became head cheerleader. Candy was now smiling as she watched Troy's reaction.

"So, are we still a couple?"

Troy nodded slowly, he couldn't let that happen to Gabriella. Candy's smile widened, and she pressed her body against Troy's. But now Coach Bolton was back.

"Troy, why aren't you warming up?"

Canady pushed away from Troy and laughed.

"God, Troy, inappropriate time! I'll see you later babe."

She led the cheerleaders out and Troy walked over to the team, ignoring the inquisitive looks.

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Gabriella smiled as the last bell of the day went. Finally it was over. She jumped up and started towards Troy's locker. Somehow she hadn't spoken to him all day. They couldn't walk to school together, they didn't have any classes together and he wasn't in the cafeteria at lunch. The one time she had seen him, he had almost run into the boys' bathroom. It was very strange, but alright because now they could spend the whole afternoon together. As she got to the corner, around which Troy's locker was, she heard her name mentioned by Chad. She stopped to listen.

"So, Troy, what's going to happen with you and Gabi?"

"Nothing, we're just friends… kind of."

"I thought you were into her?"

"Dude, I have a girlfriend. Candy is the only girl for me and I don't want you telling people otherwise."

Gabriella didn't know what to do. Troy had tried to kiss her, he had said that he really liked her, and that he would talk to Candy today. Gabriella slowly turned and walked back to her locker before going home.

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**A/N:** there you go. Did you like it? Please review with suggestions or whatever. xoxox


	8. I'm Tired of This

**A/N:** oh my god I am so sorry about the wait. I've been so unbelievably busy with school plus living in a little love story of my own :P. thankyou so much to all my lovely reviewers. Now that I'm on holidays I will be able to update more often. Anyway here is the next chapter I hope you like it.

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Gabriella had walked home very slowly, she seemed to be in a trance. No matter how much she thought about it she couldn't understand Troy. She knew he liked her, and they got along so well… apart from all the fighting. But looking back on it she hadn't minded the yelling because it meant they got to make up. So what had happened?

She reached her house and unlocked the front door. She walked up to her bedroom and put down her bag. Maybe she should text Troy? Pretend she hadn't heard him talking to guys? Just to see how he answered. Gabriella bent down to get her phone from her bag but couldn't find it. She had taken it out to dinner with her mum last night so when they got back she must have left it… in the front room.

She quickly ran down the stairs and began looking around the room. It was a small room with big windows facing the road. Gabriella instantly saw her mobile phone lying on the coffee table. She eagerly grabbed it and turned to go back to her bedroom. Right at that moment though, she heard a high pitched laugh outside. Her whole body seemed to go stiff. She slowly turned around to see a small group of people passing her house; Chad, Jason, Troy and Candy.

Candy and Troy were holding hands. He seemed to be telling the others a joke because they were all laughing, though none louder then Candy. As Gabriella watched Troy turned and smiled at Candy and, after a moment, released her hand only to wrap his arm around her waist.

Gabriella watched this with rising anger. Of course it made sense that Troy walked home this way, it was the quickest route from East High to his house. But Gabriella felt as though he was doing it just to annoy her. The small group passed her house and turned the corner. But not before she saw Troy glance back, just for a second. As if to check that she had witnessed the whole thing.

Now Gabriella turned and stomped up the stairs. She went to her bedroom and closed the curtains. Sitting down on her bed she decided she was tired of it. Tired of these mood swings which were always because of Troy. Where was her dignity? How could she let one boy make her feel so bad all the time? When she was young she would never have let herself be treated like this. She had to master that feeling and remind Troy of who he was dealing with.

She let herself fall back so she was lying on her bed. She would show them, all of them. When would all the basketball boys and all the cheerleaders be together? That was obvious, at the next practice, though, come to think of it, she had never seen Candy and the others actually cheerleading. Gabriella smiled as she had an idea. Now she couldn't wait for tomorrow.

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Troy woke up the next day feeling exhausted. The day before Candy had invited herself over to his house when she heard that Chad and Jason were going over. She constantly gave him meaningful looks, saying, you better make it look like you like me. Troy couldn't bear to think of what might happen to Gabi if he upset Candy, and so he had played along.

The guys had played some video games but he hadn't got to because Candy had sat on him. She kept asking him to explain the game to her but didn't listen when he did. She never let him stop holding her, and laughed ridiculously loudly at his worst jokes. Later when Chad and Jason had left she insisted he teach her to play basketball but she just used it as an excuse to keep running into him. She had tried to kiss him several times and Troy kept pretending not to notice.

When he had finally convinced her to leave she seemed so happy that he really wasn't looking forward to seeing her again. She seemed to think that to be the perfect girlfriend she had to be as "dumb blonde" as possible.

So he dragged himself out of bed and got ready for school. He carefully went the long way to East High, avoiding Gabi's house. If Candy saw them walking to school together she would not be happy. He was late to his first class but was just happy not to have to talk to anyone. Luckily he didn't have history that day and by doing an assignment, due last week, at lunch time he had avoided Candy all day. However now he had basketball training and she was defiantly going to be there with the other cheerleaders.

Troy walked into the gym and, sure enough, all the cheerleaders were waiting, Candy gave him a little wave as he walked up to his team and he returned it. But practice had barely started when Gabriella walked into the gym. She didn't even look at Troy but walked straight up to Coach Bolton.

"Excuse me, sir but, Ms Moss wants to talk to you about something."

"We are about to start training, it will have to wait."

He turned away from her, looking more then a little annoyed about the interruption, but Gabriella seemed not to notice.

"I'm sorry, but she said it was urgent and could you meet her in the staff room now?"

Coach Bolton sighed, and told the boys not to leave the gym, before turning and walking out. Chad stepped towards Gabriella.

"What are you talking about Gabi? Ms Moss is away today."

But Gabriella paid no attention as she walked over to the cheerleaders. Candy stood up and all the other girls followed her lead.

"Do you girls ever do any actual cheerleading?" Gabriella asked loudly.

Candy was shocked for a second but quickly responded.

"Of course we do, we have full routines, it's just that the gym is too small for us to practice in, with those guys playing basketball."

Gabriella slowly looked around, confirming that all eyes were on her.

"I don't think it's too small."

"What would you know?" Candy smirked.

Gabriella smiled as if this is what she had been waiting for. She walked until she was in the middle of an open area. She ran forward and did a cartwheel, then another. She flipped herself into handstands a few times before doing a double round-off. She jumped in the air and landed doing the splits.

Everyone in the gym was staring at her speechless. Gabriella smiled and slowly stood up. Candy was the first to recover and glared at Gabriella as she walked closer.

"So I suppose you want to be a cheerleader now?" she said moodily.

"No thanks," Gabriella smiled widely, "Cheerleaders always seem to be sluts. Anyway see you tomorrow, Candy."

Gabriella did a small finger wave before turning and walking out of the gym. As she passed Troy she "accidentally" knocked his shoulder.

"Oh sorry Troy, I didn't see you there."

She smiled again before leaving. There was silence again as she left. Now the boys were starting to murmur and a lot of people were glancing at Candy to see how she was reacting. Suddenly Coach Bolton came back in.

"Where is Gabriella? Did you know Ms Moss isn't even here today?"

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**A/N:** wow, I don't think I like that chapter much. Sorry if it's not very good, I have to get the feel of the story again. Anyway please review and tell me what you think of it. I promise I will update a lot sooner if I get reviews.


	9. Jealousy and Sadness

**A/N:** Hi! Again I am sorry about the long wait. I have been busy with, friends, going to the beach, writing other stories, etc. but here is the next chapter. By the way I would like to thank everyone who reviewed chapter 8. 21 reviews for one chapter! That is the most I have ever gotten, and it made me so happy.

Also I will once again remind everyone that I am Australian. In Australia at 13, Troy and Gabi would be in their first year of high school. Sorry if that is confusing to anyone. Also some people are saying that 13 year olds wouldn't act like this. Again I would like to apologise, but I was like this at 13, as were my friends… I guess that is not normal, maybe I "grew up" too quickly? I was a pretty strange child, and still am, but whatever.

Sorry, I am just going on about nothing, here is the chapter.

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"Where is Gabriella? Did you know Ms Moss isn't even here today?" Coach Bolton said.

He looked around the gym for Gabriella but only saw his team and the cheerleading squad. For some reason they were all staring at him. The cheerleaders looked shocked, but a lot of the basketball boys were slowly starting to smile. Quite suddenly Candy, the head cheerleader, screamed. She then stormed towards the door. After a second, her squad hurried after her. Glancing at his watch, Coach Bolton saw that basketball practice was almost half over.

"Come on boys! Let's see if we can get some training done today." He shouted, causing all of the boys to jump slightly before running over to get the balls.

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When Troy and his father arrived home that evening they found Gabriella in their kitchen. She was sitting at the table across from Troy's mother and they seemed to be having a tea party, as they were both drinking out of tiny cups and there was an almost empty plate of scones between them.

"Gabi?" Troy said, unable to believe this sight. Gabriella, however, looked up calmly.

"Oh, hi Troy, I was waiting for you."

"You were waiting for me?" Troy couldn't seem to process this information. He thought she was angry at him, or ignoring him, he had lost track.

"Yes, I wanted to ask you something. Can we go to your bedroom and talk?" Gabriella asked, seeming perfectly happy. Troy was about to respond with something along the lines of 'huh?' when his father cut in.

"Well, Gabriella, there is something I wanted to ask you too. Why did you say…" But his wife motioned for him to be quiet.

"Jack, let the kids go and talk. Troy, take Gabriella up to your room."

Troy slowly nodded and turned away, Gabriella got up to follow him, and he heard her say "Thank you so much for the scones Mrs Bolton, they were delicious."

As Troy and Gabriella climbed the stairs they heard his father continue to argue, "Gabriella lied to me, she…" and his mother reply "don't be silly, she is a lovely girl." Finally as they reached Troy's bedroom and he shut the door behind them, Troy seemed to regain his voice.

"Why exactly are you at my house?" he asked. Gabriella was walking around his room, looking at everything.

"I told you, I want to ask you something."

"Ok, what?" Troy was expecting the worst, questions about his behaviour, or Candy, or his feelings. He was not expecting…

"Can I have Jason's mobile number?"

"What!?" he burst out, somewhat louder then he had intended. Gabriella stopped walking and turned to look at him.

"Jason. Jason Cross from your basketball team, can I have his number?"

"Why?"

"Ah, Troy, there are some things a girl likes to keep private. So do you have his number?"

"Yeah, on my phone," he got it out of his pocket, "but…"

"Great!" Gabriella squealed. She grabbed Troy's phone from his hand and pressed a few buttons before getting out her own and, presumably, typing in Jason's number.

She giggled very girlishly, "Thanks, Troy, I'll see you tomorrow." She handed his phone to him and left the room.

Troy just stood there speechless. This was like the forth time that day that Gabi had had that affect on him. It was crazy. But he suddenly shook himself and quickly walked out onto the balcony. He could see Gabriella just jumping over the wall. She looked up and saw him. Waving cheerfully, she turned and ran back to her house.

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The next day, Wednesday, Troy awoke and got ready for school. He left his house and walked around the corner only to see Gabriella quiet far ahead also walking to East High. He considered calling out to her, or running to catch up but then saw that she was staring intently at her mobile in her hand, so hung back. As he walked behind her he distinctly heard a little beep sound a few times, at each of these beeps Gabi would jump slightly before pressing buttons on her phone, being silent for a moment then pressing more buttons quickly. It wasn't hard to guess that she was receiving, and sending, text messages.

Just as they approached East High, Troy could take it no longer. He hurried to walk beside her.

"Hey Gabi, what's going on?"

"Oh, hey Troy, not much I was just… Jason!" She yelled the last word before running away from Troy and throwing her arms around Jason who was outside the school. Jason laughed and hugged Gabriella tightly, releasing her as he saw Troy walking towards them.

"Hey dude, what's up?" He asked, as if unsure how Troy would react. This was not surprising because Troy was glaring at him fiercely, and completely ignored his question.

"When did you and Gabi get so… close?"

"Oh my god, Troy, we were texting each other like all night!" Gabriella answered, apparently not hearing the anger in Troy's voice. Jason laughed awkwardly.

"Yeah, this girl made me spend so much money, she just kept replying."

"I couldn't help it." Gabriella now smiled up at Jason. "You were so, so, so funny. I had to reply to boost your ego!"

Again Jason laughed, trying to ease the tension, and Gabriella giggled. But Troy just stood there, never taking his eyes of Jason. After an uncomfortable silence Gabriella grabbed Jason's arm and pulled him away.

"Come on Jason. We have health together first."

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Troy had spent the morning of school in a bad temper, ignoring everyone and muttering to himself. When he went to lunch and saw Gabriella sitting at the basketball team's table, once again laughing with Jason, his anger peaked. He walked over and slammed his lunch tray down on the table getting all of the boys, and Gabriella's, attention. (The cheerleading squad was not around for some reason.)

"What the hell is so funny?" Troy demanded, looking from Gabriella, to Jason and back. Gabriella burst into giggles.

"Oh!… it was just… and Jason said… never mind." She burst out, between her laughter. It was the only sound anyone was making, before Jason spoke.

"Umm, Gabriella, do you think you could see if there are any hamburgers left?"

"God, what am I your slave? Besides you have already had two!" she stated, but when Troy moved around the table and sat down on the other side of Jason, she changed her mind. "I suppose I could go check, I'll be back in a moment Jay."

With that she shot out of her chair and hurried off. All the boys were staring at Jason, who was looking nervously at Troy who, in turn, was glaring after Gabriella muttering "oh, it's Jay now is it?" Jason experimentally cleared his throat.

"Troy?" he said, and Troy's head jerked to face him. "Look, I was thinking..."

"Don't hurt yourself" Troy mumbled, Jason choose to ignore this.

"I was thinking, since it is Gabi's birthday on Friday, and she doesn't really have many friends yet, we should throw her a little party at school. Nothing big, maybe we could just go to an empty classroom at lunch and have a cake and sing 'Happy Birthday' and stuff. What do you think?" Jason trailed off.

Troy was still staring at him, but no longer with anger, with something in between jealousy and sadness. Because he had completely forgotten that Gabriella would be 13 in two days time. Why hadn't he thought of throwing her a party, and what could he get her? He realised everyone was still watching him.

"It's a good idea Jason, really good." He said quietly.

"I'll make a cake." said Zeke.

"I'll make a cake!" said Chad, excitedly.

"You can't cook." Zeke argued back. But Troy wasn't paying any attention. He stood up and walked away, passing Gabi as she made her way back to the table with a hamburger.

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**A/N:** There! What did you think? I really liked that chapter, but maybe you guys didn't? As you can see Gabi was making Troy jealous so I hope hsmgirlie333 and A Dedicated Reader enjoyed it, you two had the same idea as me!

Anyway I have the whole story planned out in my head, it is just a matter of writing it down. But the more reviews I get, the more motivated I will be! Thank you all so much for your support, this story is my baby. xoxox


	10. Going Crazy

**A/N:** Hey everyone, sorry I took so long to update. But THANKYOU to all the reviewers! I am glad people are still enjoying this story. Again, I am sorry if you think they are too young to be acting like this, obviously I was a slutty child or something. I can't change their age now, if you want you can think of them as older, I don't really care, and if I did what could I do about it?

Ok, here is the chapter, I hope you like it. Though, if you thought the others were too dramatic you will probably hate it.

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The bell rang for the end of school that day and Gabriella gratefully went to her locker. She was exhausted from pretending to be happy all day to make Troy jealous. She knew it wasn't fair to Jason, and she felt bad about it, really, but she didn't have a choice because as annoyed as Gabriella was with Troy, she couldn't stop liking him. She knew they could be great together, there was just the issue of Candy.

Gabriella was never one to just let things go. If she wanted something she would think of a plan, and get it. It wasn't like she hurt anyone, and she came up with plans to help other people too, then everyone was happy. But this time it might hurt Jason. Gabriella hadn't meant for things to go so far. She just wanted to be friendly with Jason as a way of being near Troy and annoying him. But Jason obviously liked her and jumped at the chance to get closer to her. Now Gabriella was in too deep, her light flirting had gone too far and now Jason seemed to think they were practically together. Actually she had agreed to spend the afternoon with him, when she saw that Troy was defiantly getting jealous.

As Gabriella closed her locker and picked up her bag, she sighed, knowing that she would have to end whatever she had with Jason. She walked to his locker, which was near Troy's. Unfortunately, both boys were at their lockers. Even more unfortunate was the fact that Candy was also with Troy. As Gabriella came up to Jason she heard Candy talking to Troy.

"So, baby, are we hanging out this afternoon?" Troy was trying to get the books he needed from his locker but was having a hard time because Candy was practically hanging off him.

"Ah, no, actually I can't. The guys are coming over to my house to play ball." Troy answered, managing to free one arm and pick up a book. Candy's face fell.

"But you did that just the other day." She whined.

"Well, we practice a lot." Troy looked quite impressed with himself when he had finished getting out books. Jason hadn't seen Gabriella yet and he now turned to Troy.

"Actually, dude, I completely forgot about that. I'm meeting Gabi now."

Gabriella was pleased to see an annoyed look cross Troy's face, though Candy looked happy.

"Good, then I can come over to your house, Troy."

"No, there would still be Zeke and Chad. Oh, hey Gabi." Troy answered, finally seeing Gabriella. Jason whipped around and smiled at her, and she gave him a small smile back.

"Hey. Um, I couldn't help overhearing. Jason, you can go to Troy's if you want. I don't mind." Gabriella was happy to put off more time with Jason, though she would have to talk to him sometime.

"Great, how about I come with you guys?" Candy smiled.

"Gabi, I want to be with you." Jason looked around at them all, "I know. Why don't we all go to Troy's? If that's ok?"

"Oh, well…" Troy couldn't think of anything worse, Gabi, Candy, Jason, Chad and Zeke all at his house, "I don't think the girls would want to, really."

"I would love to!" Candy laughed and grabbed Troy's hand. Gabriella scowled and instinctively moved closer to Jason.

"Me too."

"This will be fun!" Jason said, just as Troy thought it in a much more sarcastic tone.

They all picked up their bags and met up with Chad and Zeke before walking to Troy's. It couldn't have been any more awkward. None of the guys were saying much, Troy and Candy were holding hands and Jason had his arm over Gabriella's shoulders. Both girls were giggling in what the boys assumed what meant to be a flirty way, but both ruined it by glaring continuously at each other.

When they finally reached Troy's house they all dumped their schoolbags in his hallway before walking to the basketball court. Chad carried his ball with him and bounced it slowly.

"So… basketball?" He asked, hesitantly. Troy, Jason and Zeke all nodded and moved forward. Chad seemed to become a bit more normal, breaking the tension.

"Are you girls playing?" He turned to Candy and Gabriella.

"Of course!"

"You're kidding, right?"

Both answered at the same time, and the tension was instantly back as they looked at each other. They each hated the other for how they had answered. Candy thought it was disgusting that Gabriella wanted to act like a boy and get dirty, sweaty and red-faced. And Gabriella thought that Candy was just proving herself to be a stereotypical girl by not wanting to play sport.

"So, Candy do you want to watch?" Zeke was feeling so uncomfortable, he almost wished he was at his home doing his homework.

"No, if she is playing then so am I."

"Alright then, let's go, Gabi is with me and Jason." Zeke tried to sound enthusiastic, but failed.

Chad passed the ball to Troy, who began dribbling it up the court, but Jason stole it. He passed to Zeke, who ran up the court, dribbling, he took a shot and it rebounded, Gabriella caught it and bounced it a couple of times before passing it to Jason. But Troy intercepted it, he took off down the court that other way, then passed to Chad, who passed to Candy. Candy, however, fumbled with the ball, tripped and fell over.

"You did that!" She screeched at Gabriella, who was laughing.

"I wasn't anywhere near you." Gabriella protested.

"Calm down, that just happens sometimes Candy." Troy said. He picked up the ball and made a perfect shot. Candy seemed to be considering arguing with him, but shut her mouth and stood up.

The game began again quickly, Gabriella had the ball and was running up court when Candy stuck her leg out in front of her. Gabriella fell forward onto the cement. Jason helped her up and Gabriella turned to Candy.

"You should not have done that." She said quietly. Candy smirked at her.

"Gabi are you alright? Your leg is bleeding." Jason said.

"I'm fine, keep playing."

The boys had little choice but to continue, though all four had the feeling that this could be the most dangerous game they had ever played in. After a short time Gabriella again had the ball, Zeke was free and Gabriella was about to pass to him when she suddenly changed direction. The ball left her hands and hit Candy right in the face, hard. Candy screamed and the boys all paused.

"Oops, my bad." Gabriella said. Candy was feeling her nose carefully but it seemed to be fine.

"Give me the ball." Candy said, and after a moment of hesitation, Chad did.

Candy carefully bounced it to the hoop, everyone was following, though none were really playing. Candy carefully took aim then threw the ball straight at the pole. It rebounded and hit Gabriella in the stomach, she gasped and doubled over.

Candy smiled, but Gabriella was already standing up straight and grabbing the ball. The boys all backed off, they had no clue what to do. Gabriella and Candy were playing one on one now, though it didn't look like basketball anymore. Candy tried to get the ball from Gabriella, but ended up scratching her arm, deeply too, because off her nails. Gabriella pushed towards Candy and knocked her backwards where she landed with a thump.

"You bitch!" Candy squealed.

"Slut!" Gabriella replied.

That was when they both lost it, Candy grabbed Gabriella's legs and pulled her to the ground. Gabriella completely forgot about the ball and it rolled away. In seconds they were hitting, scratching, slapping, kicking and screaming at each other as they rolled around and around.

All the boys were in shock, they just stood their watching. Finally Troy came to his senses. He hit the other guys lightly to bring them back. Following Troy's lead they approached the girls, who were still going crazy on the court. They tried to separate them but ended up getting pulled into it. After only a moment however, Troy and Jason were standing up, restraining Gabriella. And Zeke and Chad were holding back Candy, still on the ground.

"Let me go!" Candy yelled, and squirmed free off their grasp. Gabriella was no longer struggling against Troy and Jason so Candy simply stood up and ran back to the house.

Once she had gone Troy and Jason cautiously let go off Gabriella who was still breathing heavily. Without a word she walked over to the wall and jumped into her own garden. As her back door slammed behind her, the boys looked at each other in amazement.

Zeke and Chad were just standing up. Jason's elbow was bleeding, Troy had a long scratch on his cheek, Chad's arm was bright red and Zeke was rubbing his ankle. After what seemed like hours Chad smiled.

"Is it wrong that I found that really hot?"

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**A/N: **So did you like it? Or was it way too over the top? Some people probably thought so. That's ok. I personally loved writing this coz I really wanted to do a cat fight with Gabi and Candy. Anyway, sorry again about whatever annoys you in this story. Just change it in your imagination, ok? Ok.

Also I feel I should warn you that there are only a few chapters left in this story. It will end after Gabriella's birthday. That is why I keep mentioning what day it is in their world. I have got the next chapter mostly written, so the quicker you review, the faster I will update. I swear I am telling the truth, if people review to this I will update in the next couple of days. Love you all!


	11. Good Friends

**A/N: **There you go! I told you I would update quickly. And I did. I think you should be proud of me. Anyway here is the chapter, some of it is kind of depressing, sorry, but I promise it ends happily.

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Later that night, when everyone had left, Troy was walking through Gabriella's garden. He was carrying her school bag because she had walked off that afternoon leaving it in his hallway. The back room of the house was dark but looking up Troy could see light coming from under the curtains in Gabriella's room. He stepped back and picked up a pebble, throwing it at the window like they do in movies. After two pebbles Gabriella looked out and Troy waved his arms, indicating her school bag. Gabriella disappeared from view, a minute later the back door was opening.

Troy was disappointed to see Gabriella wearing sweat pants and a big jumper, he had been half hoping for the see through top again. He held the school bag out to Gabriella.

"Here, you left this at my house."

"Thanks." Gabriella took the bag from him and put it inside. "Come in."

Troy followed her into the house, Gabriella turned on the light and they again sat on the couch. Apart from a small red scratch under her chin, Gabriella did not look like she had been in a fight at all. She looked awkwardly at Troy.

"Um, how's your cheek?" She asked.

"It's fine." There was a moment of silence. "You shouldn't have thrown the ball in Candy's face."

"She tripped me over!" Gabriella flared up at once. "For no reason, she started it, you can't possibly be taking her side!"

"I'm not taking anyone's side."

"Well you should be taking mine!"

"Gabriella!" Troy said, sharply, his voice warning her to drop that subject.

"Troy, what, what happened with us?" Gabriella said softly. "First I come back and we get along great, but you lead me on and don't tell me you have a girlfriend. I tell you not to speak to me any more but when I talk to your friends you start yelling at me. Then you come over being all nice, saying you are going to break up with Candy. The next day you don't break up with her but you take her over to your house! So I start hanging out with Jason, so you and Candy can be together and you get hugely angry about it. Now you are being nice again!"

"Ok, you so left out all the bits about you there, putting all the blame on me." Troy said.

"Well it is your fault!" Her voice rose. "One moment we are almost kissing and the next…" Gabriella began to blush, realising what she had said. She looked up, expecting Troy to be near her, but he was sitting at the other end of the couch, not even looking at her. Gabriella slid along the couch to him. She touched his arm lightly and Troy jumped, turning to face at her.

"What happened on Monday, Troy? Why didn't you break up with Candy?"

"Gabi, nothing can happen with us. I'm sorry, but we wouldn't work, we fight too much." Troy sighed, looking straight at Gabriella now. "We should just be friends, and me with Candy, you with Jason."

Troy stood up to leave, Gabriella tried to hold him but he shook her off. He walked to the door and left without looking back.

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Troy couldn't understand it. He couldn't understand himself. There was so much going through his head and there was nothing he could do about it. He wanted Jason to back off Gabriella and he wanted to be rid of Candy. But more then anything, he wanted to be with Gabriella. And it seemed like she wanted to be with him. But then what was it she had with Jason? And why was she always yelling at Troy?

From her summery the night before Troy was insulted that she had made it sound as if she had done nothing wrong. But he also found that so cute in her. It reminded him of her when they were little, and nothing was ever her fault. But he had been different then, and had always agreed with her. Now it was harder, he had to make his own decisions, and he wasn't sure of himself at all.

He could tell Gabriella everything? How much he liked her, and how he didn't break up with Candy because he was trying to protect Gabriella. Would she have an answer to that, a simple solution that would solve everything? But if she didn't then Candy could easily turn most of East High against her. Troy could not let that happen.

He was lying in his bed as he thought everything through. He was exhausted, unable to fall asleep the night before, and waking early today. He looked at the clock next to his bed and was amazed that he was now running late. Had he really just been thinking for so long? Troy groaned as he finally climbed out of bed, he didn't feel like he could face another day.

Half an hour later Troy was walking out his front door, showered, fed and dressed, though still not feeling much better. Again he saw Gabriella walking ahead as he turned the corner. Today she was not texting Jason or anyone else, and this encouraged Troy. He sped up and walked next to her.

"Hey." It seemed like a good opener. Gabriella looked up and gave him a small smile.

"Hey." There was a moment of awkward silence before Gabriella continued.

"Troy, what you said last night… I think you were right."

"When I said you put all the blame on me?" Troy tried to make her laugh, or even smile again, but she didn't.

"No, not about that."

"You shouldn't have thrown a basketball in Candy's face?" He tried again.

"No, you are defiantly wrong about that." Gabriella's eyes flashed at the thought. "I mean what you said about us, that we should just be friends."

"Oh, really?" Troy didn't want to hear that, he had been thinking the opposite as he watched her walk.

"Yes. We do fight a lot, and there's Jason… and you can't break up with Candy for some reason… so I don't think we have much choice."

"What if we did have a choice?" Troy held Gabriella's arm to stop her from walking, they were quite near the school now. She turned to look at him.

"I just said that there isn't a choice. It's too complicated."

"I know. But if it wasn't, if there was no Jason and no Candy and no fighting, what would you want then?" Troy stared straight at Gabriella, almost holding his breathe. "Honestly."

Gabriella held his look for a few seconds before turning and continuing to walk.

"It doesn't matter. Whatever you say, there are complications. There is no point pretending otherwise."

"But Gabriella." He ran a few steps to catch up to her, however now they were so close to the school that they couldn't really continue the conversation. Just before they entered the school grounds bursting with students Gabriella faced Troy.

"We can be friends, though. Good friends, but that's it."

At that moment both Troy and Gabriella heard their name being called. Jason was walking up the path smiling at Gabriella and the cheerleading squad was walking over the grounds towards them with Candy in the lead.

Troy and Gabriella shared one last look before going in opposite directions. They silently agreed that this was it, and now there could be no feelings between them more then friendship. Both resisted the urge to look back and both listened to their heads instead of their hearts.

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Troy spent the day focusing hard in every class. This was his plan to keep his mind off Gabriella and he was quite proud of himself. That is until he read over the notes he had made and noticed that every few paragraphs he had written Gabriella's name. It was just weaved into the sentences as if it were meant to be there though Troy knew that none of his teachers had mentioned her.

He spent the time that he wasn't in class with Candy, and tried to notice the good things about her. He realised that Candy was very good looking and amusing, she was fun to be with and clearly liked him. If Troy ignored how mean he knew she could be, he saw that she was actually one of the best all around girls in his year, which was why he had asked her out.

But Troy also realised that when Gabriella had come back into his life, she had redefined his standards. Troy didn't think that any other girl would ever be able to live up to them. But he couldn't do anything about that now, nothing would happen. He saw Gabriella and Jason holding hands in the hall and knew that any chance he had was gone.

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Gabriella had quiet a different day at school. She spent every possible moment thinking about Troy. She went over everything that had happened since she had moved back, every look, every word, and every touch. Gabriella was a very analytical person, so she had to go over and over things. She had to know that this was the right choice.

At one point during the day, Jason came up to her in the hallway and linked his hand in hers. Gabriella was so deep in thought that she hardly even noticed, but she did notice when almost immediately he pulled his hand away again. Gabriella turned to look at him and he looked upset about something.

"What's wrong, Jay?" She asked, genuinely concerned. Jason smiled but still looked sad.

"Nothing. Are you looking forward to your birthday tomorrow?"

Gabriella had almost forgotten about her birthday. She wasn't sure if she was looking forward to it or not, with everything else that had been happening. And it wasn't like she had many close friends to celebrate it with. She had kind of made friends with a girl called Kelsi, and then there was Jason, obviously, Chad, Zeke and Troy… maybe, if he would even remember.

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The day finally ended and, as awkward as it was, Troy and Gabriella walked home together. They didn't really have a choice. They walked most of the way in silence. Occasionally someone would ask a question about school work, but that was about it. Until they stopped outside Gabriella's house. Before she could turn and walk inside, Troy grabbed her hand.

"Gabi! I know this probably isn't what you want to hear, and you don't have to say anything but I want you to know that if this wasn't complicated, if it was as simple as just you and me… then I would want to be with you."

Gabriella was shocked, she stood there for a moment, looking at a point behind Troy's shoulder. But then she pulled her hand from his, turned and walked up the path to her house. As she walked away Troy heard her voice, soft but distinct.

"Me too."

A smile stretched over Troy's face, it was like a light had gone off in his head. That was all he needed to hear, now he knew what he was going to do. And it would all start the next morning.

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**A/N: **Ta dah! Did you like it? I didn't like bits of it, so sorry if you didn't either. There are only one or two chapters left. They will be about Gabi's birthday! So you have to review if you want to know Troy's plan. I probably wont be able to update in a while because school is about to start again, but I promise I will. And comments help!


	12. Authors Note

A/N: No, this is not a chapter

**A/N:** No, this is not a chapter. I'm very sorry. Don't worry, I am working on it. This is just a note to say that you should go and read my new story 'I'm in love with my teacher'. It is another Troyella about Gabriella being at school and Troy becoming her P.E. teacher, they fall in love but obviously they can't be together. Gabriella has some family issues and Troy has a mysterious past. If you like this story then you should like my new one. You can go to my page or find the story on Fanfic. Please review and tell me what you think. Thanks so much.


	13. Happy Birthday!

**A/N:** This is the final chapter, though I am going to do a sequel. It might be a while though. I'll put a A/N on this story when I start the sequel. Hope you like this ending.

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Gabriella woke on Friday morning, forgetting that it was any special day. She got out of her bed and walked over to the window. As she opened the curtains there was a piece of paper stuck on the inside of her window, on it in big letters was written:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GABI!

Follow the Easter eggs for a surprise!

Gabriella felt her face break into a huge smile as she remembered it was her birthday. And her mum had gotten Easter eggs! They were Gabi's favourite thing to eat, no matter what time of year it was. On the floor was a small basket with a single egg in it, but as she looked around Gabriella saw a trail of Easter eggs leading out of her bedroom.

She picked up the basket and followed the trail, adding each egg to the basket as she got to it. They led her out of her bedroom, down the hall, down the stairs and into the front room. Gabriella was watching the ground and not even looking up until the trail suddenly ended. Then when she looked up she saw a note and a small teddy bear lying on the coffee table, confused she stepped closer and read the note;

'Gabriella, Happy Birthday. I am so sorry I couldn't be here this morning but tonight I will take you out for a birthday dinner. Love your mum.

P.S. there is someone else here to see you so you probably won't even miss me.'

Gabriella now picked up the bear, almost all of its fur was gone and it looked very old, but on its stomach she could clearly make out the words:

"Gabi + Troy

Best Friends Forever"

She felt so happy that she didn't even jump when someone wrapped their arms around her from behind. Instead she turned around to see Troy smiling back at her.

"Good morning birthday girl." He hugged her, but Gabriella suddenly stepped back out of his arms.

"You did all this, Troy?"

"Yep, your mum let me in this morning, before she had to go. I had the sign and the Easter eggs. I even found Brown Bear, and sewed up his eye and leg! Sorry if it's not very good. And I went over our message because it was pretty faded. Anyway, happy birthday!"

"Troy that is so unbelievably nice, I had almost forgotten about Brown Bear, and our message, you didn't have to do all this. But what exactly does it mean? What is going to happen now?"

"Now, we go to school and fix everything. Make it how it should be." He held Gabriella's hand softly, "ok?"

"Ok." Gabriella smiled as she met his eyes.

"Good, then you had better get dressed and ready." Troy said teasingly, and Gabi blushed as she realised that she was wearing her pyjamas.

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Half an hour later, Gabriella and Troy left her house, they walked towards the school, both sucking on Easter eggs. Gabriella had tried repeatedly to get Troy to tell her his plan but he refused to say anything. They weren't holding hands, or touching each other in any way, but were walking very near each other.

Gabriella was so happy, there was a bubble inside her like she was overflowing with joy, but she couldn't help thinking that something was going to go wrong. How could Troy possibly fix everything?

Troy on the other hand was feeling hugely confident, he knew exactly what he was going to do that day, and though it wasn't much he was certain it would work out.

When they arrived at the school they had to leave each other immediately for their first class. They had been walking very slowly, to be able to stay near each other as long as possible. As they separated Troy winked at Gabriella.

"I'll see ya later." He said and Gabriella felt her heart flutter, each time she looked at him she couldn't believe that someone could be that good looking in real life.

Later at their first break Gabriella was talking to her friend Kelsi. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Troy flitting around the place talking to different people. She had also seen him practically sprint away from Candy. She had lost sight of him suddenly when she heard his voice behind her.

"Hey, can I talk to you?" He asked, Gabriella smiled and turned to face him, finally she would find out what was going on.

"Of course."

"Sorry Gabi. I meant your friend. Kelsi, right?"

Gabriella felt her mouth drop comically as Kelsi, looking shocked, walked a few metres away with Troy. Gabriella didn't think they had ever spoken before. Her confusion rose as Troy whispered quickly to Kelsi and Kelsi smiled, glancing back at Gabriella. Then without looking over Troy turned and walked the other way and Kelsi returned to Gabi.

"What was that about?" Gabriella instantly asked.

"Oh nothing, just catching up, you know." Kelsi answered, she was an awful liar.

"Do you even know Troy?"

"I do now." Kelsi smiled and changed the subject.

Gabriella continued through her day, extremely confused. Finally lunch time came and she made her way to the cafeteria, as she approached the doors someone grabbed her arm and spun her around against the wall.

"Don't go in there Gabi, come with me." She heard Troy's voice in her ear and looked up at him, so close to her. His breathe was hot on her face and suddenly the urge to kiss him was stronger then ever. His looked in her eyes and his own widened, Gabriella was sure he could see the longing in her eyes. She moved closer to him, never breaking the eye contact. But Troy, with apparent difficulty, tore his eyes away from her and began pulling her down the hallway.

"Troy, what? Where are we going?" Gabriella's curiosity overtook her annoyance as he stopped outside a classroom and opened the door. He pulled her inside and there was a loud;

"SURPRISE!"

Gabriella gasped as she looked around, there were some streamers hanging from the ceiling and some balloons tied to a table with two cakes and a bottle of coke on it. There was only Chad, Jason, Zeke, Kelsi and another girl that Gabriella had seen but never spoken to. Gabriella smiled at them and then at Troy.

"Thankyou so much guys, this is awesome."

"Haha, not really, There are only seven of us. But some more people should show up." Zeke said.

Gabriella and Troy walked up to the others around the table. And Chad approached them, leading the other girl.

"Gabi this is Taylor. I know you guys don't know each other but I think you would be really good friends, so get to know each other ok?" Chad introduced her and the girl, Taylor, smiled kind of awkwardly.

"Hey."

"Hi." Gabriella was so happy that she gave her a huge smile. "So when do we get the cakes?"

"I made this one." Zeke said, pointing to a big square cake with white frosting which said Happy Birthday in blue icing. It looked so good. Gabriella was about to say so when Chad cut in.

"And I made the other one!" Gabriella's gaze shifted to the other cake. It was a small and lopsided circular one which was smothered in green icing. But not a nice green, a green that changed shades and had some undefinable lumps.

"Oh, wow, thanks Chad, that's… amazing." Gabriella said quietly, she could feel Troy behind her trying to stop himself from laughing, luckily at that moment the door opened and about twenty more people burst in. There was the rest of the basketball team and a lot of people Gabriella had never spoken to but they brought music with them, and more food, so she didn't complain.

Troy quickly cut bits of Zeke's cake for her and himself before it was all eaten. He handed it to her and they slipped over to a corner. They leaned against the wall and watched some other people dancing as they silently ate their cake, when they were both finished Gabriella turned to Troy.

"Thanks for doing this Troy, it's so nice."

"Actually it wasn't my idea, it was Jason's." He turned to face her and the intensity of his stare made her blush. "Gabi, do you have any feelings for Jason at all?"

"No, I don't. He's a great guy but… I want you." Troy smiled and shifted closer to her on the wall. He reached out a hand and brushed a lock of hair away from her face, he was about to say something but Gabriella spoke.

"Hey Jason." Troy turned around and, sure enough, Jason had walked up to them. Gabriella looked awkward and then started to babble.

"Jason I'm really sorry, but I don't like you as a crush. I'm sorry for leading you on, I didn't mean to hurt you, I just-"She stoped as Jason raised his hand.

"It's ok Gabi, really, everyone knew you two would be together." Now Troy felt awkward.

"Look man, I hope you don't think I'm stealing your girl or anything, I mean you're my mate and-" But he too was cut off by Jason.

"Don't worry Troy, she was never my girl. I hoped she might be but when I held your hand Gab I knew it wouldn't work." He said. Gabriella and Troy exchanged confused looks and Jason smiled.

"Your hand didn't fit properly in mine Gabi, and that's how you can tell." He reached out and took both Troy and Gabriella's wrists, he pushed their hands together and their fingers intertwined. "You see, perfect fit." Troy and Gabi smiled at each other and tightened their hold on the others hand. "If you guys will excuse me, which I think you will, I've met someone else whose hand might fit mine." Jason added and walked away, they watched as he approached Kelsi and began talking to her.

"Well, that worked out well." Gabriella said, and Troy linked his other hand with hers.

"Yeah, perfect." They moved closer together again when there was suddenly a screech.

"Troy!" They turned and saw Candy pushing her way through the growing crowd of their class mates. Troy faced her but didn't let go of Gabriella's hands.

"What are you doing?! You are dating me Troy, not her!"

"Not any more, Candy, I'm breaking up with you." The crowd began to listen in, curious.

"I don't think so Troy. Don't you remember what I said would happen to your precious little _Gabi_ if you break up with me?" Candy sounded almost crazy as she hissed the words. And Gabriella realised what she said, Troy didn't break up with her because he was trying to protect me, she thought.

"I remember, but I am not going to be manipulated by you any more. I never should have listened to you in the first place. I don't care what you say, I won't stop liking Gabriella, and I think I have more influence over this school then you do anyway. Now that people know it was you who made up all those rumours about Gracie no one will even like you." The crowd seemed shocked and a few people muttered darkly. "Once people start getting to know Gabi she will be way more popular then you and you know why? Because she is a good person. So get out of this party if you're just going to be a bitch Candy, coz it's for Gabriella."

Candy looked like as if he had slapped her she just stood there staring at him. The sound of the crowd rose again and more people yelled at her to get out. Gabriella was feeling as equally shocked but from happiness really, she couldn't believe Troy had stood up for her like that. Then Candy turned to Gabriella and if looks could kill Gabriella would have keeled over.

"I'm going to get you somehow, you ugly little skank." Troy made a move towards Candy but Gabriella didn't need him to look after her, she stepped closer to Candy as there was a yell behind her.

"Hey, no one has eaten my cake!"

As Gabriella approached Candy, Candy turned to run away but walked straight into Chad who had been holding his cake. Somehow the plate tipped up and ended up smashing all over Candy's face. She screamed as everyone else burst into surprised laughter. Only Chad looked upset at the use his cake had been put to. Now Gabriella turned back to Troy, her eyes shining and her smile wide.

"This is the best birthday ever. And you gave me the best gifts, Brown Bear and Candy's humiliation." Troy smiled back at her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"I think I can beat those." He said and, to many whistles and cat calls, he leaned down and finally kissed her, right on the lips.

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**A/N:** Ta dah! I am so happy with this story, but sad to be leaving it behind. Please, please, please review and tell me what you thought of the ending. Thankyou so much to all the readers and reviewers. Keep an eye on my other stories coz you should like them if you liked this.

Also, and I know this is kind of random, but I want to ask anyone's advice on something, coz I can't really talk to my friends about it. Ok so there was this party I went to a couple of nights ago, and it was so much fun, and at first I was hanging out with my crush a lot, and I really like him and we were totally flirting with each other. But then later in the night I ended up alone with my ex-boyfriend and nothing happened but I just realised how comfortable I feel with him, I don't worry about what I look like or if I sound stupid or anything. I know he still likes me and I maybe like him. But now my crush thinks I'm going to get back with my ex, and I really don't want him to stop hanging out with me. I don't know what to hope for and who I should try to get together with. Can anyone please help me?

Anyways thanks to everyone, I love you all so much! Review! xoxox


	14. Sequel

Hey ya'll

Hey ya'll! Just an authors note to say I posted the first chapter of the sequel. It's called Gabi + Troy Meant To Be Together so check it out (either in search or on my profile). I hope you all like it so make sure to review and tell me your thoughts! xoxox


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